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The first production release of Lightning/2000™ was version 1.0.4 on September 7, 1999.  Here's what's happened since then:

bulletv4.5.4, February 14, 2008
bulletThe custom summary language was improved to allow for much greater flexibility and precision.
bulletA minor initialization problem that sometimes could occur when using the PCI StormTracker was corrected.
bulletEnsure that the squelch is properly set when starting the application.
bulletA #Sound command was added to the custom summary language.  This allows the user to cause any sound to be played, depending on the conditions defined in the custom summary template.
bulletThe custom summary template may now be edited by right-clicking in the Custom Summary window.
bulletA problem with the playback of recent lightning activity was fixed.
bulletv4.4.9, December 19, 2007
bulletIf you use the StormTracker PCI card, you can now install the latest device driver from Boltek. You do not have to uninstall the old driver. If both drivers are detected, the latest one will be used. The latest driver for the PCI card may be downloaded from the Boltek website.
bulletWe've added the ability to remove the title bar from any or all of the windows in Lightning/2000.
bulletIn addition to the old default arrangement of the display, there are now two new options. Choose "Window | Arrange" from the main menu to select one of these.
Those pesky icons at the bottom of the screen are now hidden from view automatically.
bulletThere is now a #BackgroundColor command in the custom summary. With this, you can change the color of the custom summary window to indicate dangerous conditions.
A bug was fixed that sometimes caused storms' ranges to be greater than they should have been.
bulletA bug was fixed that prevented flashes from being exported into the Google Earth format when using the LD-250.
bulletA bug was fixed that prevented flashes from being exported properly when the decimal point on your computer was not the period.
bulletAdded 3 new operators to the custom summary: <>, >=, and <= (not equals to, greater than or equals to, and less than or equals to).
bulletA keyword (instead of just a number) can now be used as the object of a comparison in the custom summary.
bulletThe custom summary processor was re-engineered for maximum efficiency.
36 new keywords were added to the custom summary to permit access to the daily record values.
bulletAn auto-zoom function was added. This allows any (or all) of the map windows to automatically zoom (every 5 minutes) to show most or all lightning activity.
bulletv4.3.5, November 12, 2007
bulletFixed a problem that caused the coordinates dialog to not appear when using the Google Earth export function.
bulletFixed an anomaly with how the clock is drawn.
bulletv4.3.2, November 7, 2007
bulletYou may now export flashes from your archive files into a format that can be read by Google Earth.
bulletFixed a bug that sometimes would cause the wrong stroke type checkboxes to be checked in the Control Panel.
bulletAdded a "Test" button to the Email Dialog.
bulletThe Custom Summary can now be automatically generate an email, based on whatever criteria you choose.
bulletReflected strokes are now placed into the correct flash, rather than simply being discarded.
bulletScreen capture, FTP, and email settings are now retained when switching from flash mode to stroke mode or vice versa.
bulletThe clock is now displayed on one line, if space permits.
bulletThe counters now occupy a larger portion of their panels.
bulletv4.2.2, August 3, 2007
bulletOptimized memory usage to avoid unnecessary reallocation of large blocks of memory used for drawing strokes.
bulletThe flash or stroke preferences are now always saved when switching between flash and stroke modes.
bulletControl Panel's checkboxes now reflect the correct stroke type selections.
bulletThe labels on the Storm Statistics window's stroke type bar graph are now correct in flash mode.
bulletFixed a bug in the recent activity playback that prevented it from working correctly at all times.
bulletAdded the Custom Summary window. The contents of this text window are controlled by a template file that you can change to produce virtually any information.
bulletThe General Status Line is now also driven by a template.
bulletThe Email Dialog now allows you to send any of the text windows as the body of the email.
bulletYou can now attach any or all of 6 screen capture images to an automatically generated email.
bulletThere have been some important improvements in the range determination process.

v4.1.6, June 11, 2007
bulletA glitch in the screen capture of the Real-Time Lightning window could be caused by changing colors of one of the window elements, and has been corrected.
bulletThe screen capture of the Threat Assessment window sometimes showed storms at a distance greater than their actual distance.
bulletThe range scaling settings are now retained when switching between stroke mode and flash mode.
bulletA problem was fixed that could cause the graph to display wildly incorrect values for the strong flash count.
bulletThe "File | View | Recent archive" menu selection was added.
bulletA problem was corrected that could cause slightly incorrect flash totals to be tabulated when restarting the application.
bulletThe text "strong strokes" was changed to "strong flashes" on the status line alert.

bulletv4.1.0, May 25, 2007
bulletMore accurate determination of a flash's bearing and amplitude.  One side-effect of this improvement is more accurate range determination.
bulletStrong flashes are now tabulated rather than strong strokes.
bulletThe Threat Assessment window has been significantly improved.  It now seems to be a more meaningful and accurate assessment of storm activity.
bulletThe reflection rejection logic has been completely overhauled, resulting in improved accuracy and performance.
bulletChanges to the reflection rejection level now show up immediately in the Real-time Lightning window.
bulletImproved performance in the flash determination logic.
bulletStorm Statistics may now be displayed by clicking in either the Threat Assessment or Raw Lightning Data windows.
bulletv4.0.2, October 7, 2006
bulletThe major change involved the move from a stroke-based system to a flash-based system that is far more reflective of reality.  By more accurately mirroring what is really happening in a storm, we will be able to provide more meaningful and accurate information to the user.
bulletAutomatic screen captures can now be performed for any of the windows in Lightning/2000.
bulletNew approach to the Threat Assessment window should result in a more meaningful depiction of storm activity.
bulletThe stroke rate graph has been totally overhauled.  It is now possible to easily display a graph showing flashes, strokes, or other information.
bulletFar less reliance on the operating system's memory allocation techniques means increased reliability and the ability to process more data, faster.
bulletAddition of the Control Panel for fast access to commonly used functions.

bulletv3.5.6, August 19, 2006
bulletSome LD-250 users were having  problems getting a reliable COM port connection to the hardware.  This has been corrected.
bulletv3.4.4, August 15, 2004
bulletSupport for additional COM ports was added.
bulletA bug was fixed that sometimes (rarely) could cause the stroke rate graph to be devoid of data.
bulletv3.4.1, July 17, 2004
bulletA bug was fixed that could cause the CG Flash rate and CG Flash total records to be computed incorrectly.  If you suspect your CG flash records are incorrect, download this file.  Unzip the file and double-click on it to reset those two records.
bulletv3.4.0, July 1, 2004
bulletNew email options to only send a brief summary, and to only send an email when a specified stroke rate is reached.
bulletThe stroke rate activity graph can now be automatically captured and uploaded to your website.
bulletA thumbnail image of the real-time lightning window can now be produced and uploaded.
bulletA couple of intermittent problems have been corrected.
bulletv3.3.2, February 5, 2004
bulletNew, completely flexible range scaling.
bulletFaster FTP transfers.
bulletv3.2.0, December 30, 2003
bulletMore efficient CPU usage, especially when there is little lightning activity
bulletCG Flash counters
bulletCID (compact intercloud discharge) counters
bulletv3.1.3, July 15, 2003
bulletMinor cosmetic changes.  Improved storm ranging.  Fewer false close storm alarms.
bulletv3.1.1, July 9, 2003
bulletan intermittent problem with the FTP transfer on certain servers has been corrected
bulletv3.1.0, July 7, 2003
bulletautomatic FTP of screen capture is now built-in
bulletan email can be sent when lightning is detected nearby
bulletoptimization of stroke drawing means better performance
bulletCPU usage is greatly reduced when there is little lightning activity
bulletv3.0.3, April 18, 2003
bulletFixed minor bug in the map reloader function
bulletFixed bug that caused averages to be incorrectly calculated in the daily summary file
bulletAdded a menu option to disable the little-used disk space monitor
bulletv3.0, September 20, 2002
bulletStroke type (CG, IC, positive, negative) discrimination.
bulletStorm Statistics window
bulletThreat Assessment window
bullet

Vastly expanded user manual

bullet

Automatic record-keeping

bulletv2.7.6, June 7, 2002
bulletFix for the "stroke reversal" hardware problem with the PCI card.
bullet2.7.5, May 20, 2002
bulletThe Boltek PCI hardware is now supported.
bulletLD-250 squelch now works properly.
bulletAntenna rotation adjustment is now incorporated.
bullet2.7.4, August 24, 2001
bulletA change was made that affected some European LD-250 users.
bulletIf you don't use the LD-250, or use it without problems, you won't need this version.
bullet2.7.2, March 8, 2001
bulletA debug statement was inadvertently left enabled and can cause a "file not found" error box to pop up if you are using the LD-250.
bulletv2.7.1, March 8, 2001
bulletA minor change was made to prevent the never-before-observed case of an inordinate number of "storms" being detected during periods of heavy activity.
bulletv2.7.0, March 3, 2001
bulletA new help file is available.
bulletImproved memory management to help avoid memory fragmentation.
bulletSupport for the Boltek LD-250.
bulletThere is now a single version of L2K for all Boltek hardware and supported operating systems.
bulletv2.6.4, January 12, 2001
bulletA newer version of the help file is available.
bulletJPEG images may now be used as background maps.
bulletA periodic reload of the background map image may now be performed.  This is useful if you wish to use a radar image as your background map.
bulletv2.6.1, January 2, 2001
bulletA minor problem with the stroke click has been fixed.
bulletA couple of minor additions to the help file were made.
bulletv2.6.0, January 1, 2001
bulletBuilt-in help has been greatly augmented and expanded.
bulletStroke click sounds have been added.
bulletA tiny problem with the time zone abbreviation has been fixed.
bulletAn expanded manual is now being shipped with new orders.
bulletv2.5.6, July 31, 2000
bulletReflection rejection now adjustable between several levels.
bulletInternal changes for more efficient handling of unused memory collection.
bulletv2.5.1, July 11, 2000
bulletReflection rejection logic more efficient and less heavy-handed than before.
bulletReal-time window updates now performed much faster.
bulletOld strokes are now not replotted.  This allows the user to visually see where storms have been and get a general impression of their movement.
bulletOld strokes do not vanish from the real-time window prematurely.
bulletv2.4.7, June 29, 2000
bulletFurther investigation resulted in further improvements related to the changes made in the v2.4 release.
bulletv2.4.6, June 27, 2000
bulletA problem related to some efficiency improvements made during the recent release of v2.4 has been corrected.
bulletv2.4.1, June 13, 2000
bullet"New" strokes in the real-time lightning window are now displayed as "new" for the amount of time set by the user.
bulletBulletproofing has been added to prevent problems when a "live" screen-capture is taken by a third-party screen-capture program.
bulletAzimuth radials can now be drawn on the real-time lightning window.
bulletNew "reflection-rejection" logic now permits reflected strokes to be eliminated better than ever before.
bulletSome minor problems with the archive player have been corrected.
bulletSome minor efficiency increases were implemented.
bulletv2.3.0, April 17, 2000
bulletLow stroke rates are now grouped into "storms" far more accurately than before.
bulletThe "reflection rejection" logic is now disabled by default.
bulletUsers can now adjust "scale factors" to tailor the performance of Lightning/2000™ to the peculiarities of their installation.
bulletv2.2.11, April 8, 2000
bulletThe user is now prohibited from zooming-in to a ridiculous level, thereby avoiding an embarrassing predicament.
bulletv2.2.8, March 25, 2000
bulletAdded a 12 hour "recent activity" playback option.
bulletAdded some bulletproofing to the automatic screen capture, in case the file selected by the user is temporarily unavailable.
bulletAdded global bulletproofing.
bulletThe number of exceptions trapped is now in the About box.
bulletv2.2.3, March 17, 2000
bulletPreferences incorporating the "new" Counters window are now stored properly.
bulletv2.2.2, March 15, 2000
bulletAuto screen-capture is now more efficient.
bulletAdded 2, 3, and 6 hour "recent activity" playback options.
bulletCounters are now better centered vertically.
bulletv2.2.0, March 13, 2000
bulletThe "Counters" window is now more flexible and easier to configure.
bulletTime stamp added to auto screen capture image.
bullet3-D effects may now be specified for red and yellow alert status in the "Counters" window.
bulletTime zone is now interpreted correctly for areas which do not use daylight savings time.
bulletv2.1.6, March 4, 2000
bulletThe "Load preferences..." function now loads map info.
bulletv2.1.5, February 27, 2000
bulletThe archive player is now minimized (rather than closed) when the close button is clicked.
bulletThe title of the popup menu in the real-time lightning window is now correct.
bulletThe background color of the map in either the real-time lightning or analysis windows may now be changed.
bulletv2.0.8, February 17, 2000
bulletRange rings and the crosshairs are now drawn (if enabled) in the screen capture file.
bulletv 2.0.6, January 22, 2000
bulletFirst production release of version 2.
bulletv 1.0.8, November 15, 1999
bulletA minor annoyance related to daylight savings time was fixed.
bulletv 1.0.6, October 3, 1999
bulletAll "unusual" characters were removed from the name of the default installation directory.
bulletThe loading of the background map was further "bulletproofed".
bulletThe drawing of the background map was further "bulletproofed".
bulletThe default preferences file for 640x480 screen resolutions was modified. 
bulletv 1.0.5, October 2, 1999
bulletThis was the first attempt to fix the intermittent "class id" error.
bulletThis fix led to the discovery of the "final solution" which was implemented and uploaded the next day

 
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Last modified: Thursday, August 02, 2007